Top Ten Country and Pop Recording Artist, Sausage Salesman, James Bond Villain, Tonight Show Host— Jimmy Dean Was an All-American, Self-Made Renaissance Man

Best Known Musically for His Hits “Big Bad John” and “P.T. 109,” Dean Also Scored a Big Smash with His 1965 Holiday Release, Jimmy Dean’s Christmas Card, Which Hit the Christmas Charts for Three Straight Years

Includes the Classic Christmas Novelty Song, “Yes, Patricia, There Is a Santa Claus”

Jimmy Dean’s Christmas Card—The Complete Columbia Christmas Recordings Also Includes Three Rare, Non-LP Sides Featuring the Hit Single Version of “Yes, Patricia”

The title of the late Jimmy Dean’s autobiography is 30 Years of Sausage, 50 Years of Ham, but a more appropriate summation of his life is etched on his tombstone epitaph: “Here Lies One Hell of a Man.” For Jimmy Dean really did do it all—Top Ten pop and country singer, pure pork sausage purveyor, James Bond villain, Tonight Show host, even patron saint to puppeteer Jim Henson (Henson got his break on Jimmy’s 1963-1966 TV show). But without question one of the highlights in a life full of ‘em was Jimmy’s 1965 holiday release, Jimmy Dean’s Christmas Card. Not only did the album hit #13 on the Christmas charts but it hit the charts for the next two years, and spawned a hit single, “Yes, Patricia, There Is a Santa Claus,” that remains one of the great Christmas novelty tunes of all time. We’re serving up a fresh remastering (by Maria Triana at Battery Studios) of this Christmas classic, and adding three non-LP sides (including the single version of “Yes, Patricia”) to comprise his complete Columbia Christmas recordings. Photos and liner notes by Joe Marchese complete one heartwarming Christmas package.

SONGS:

1. Blue Christmas

2. Jingle Bells

3. Silver Bells

4. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

5. My Christmas Room

6. White Christmas

7. Yes, Patricia, There Is a Santa Claus

8. Medley: O Little Town of Bethlehem/God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen/The First Noel/Joy to the World/We Wish You a Merry Christmas

9. The Cowboy’s Prayer

10. It Came upon a Midnight Clear

11. Silent Night, Holy Night

12. Jimmy’s Christmas Card

13. Little Sandy Sleighfoot

14. When They Ring the Golden Bells

15. Yes Patricia There Is a Santa Claus (Single Version)

Article originally appeared on Real Gone Music (http://www.realgonemusic.com/).